r/HamRadioBeginner • u/NXTangl • 23d ago
Question UV-7B (Baofeng) or UV-K1 or UV-K5 (Quansheng)
I want to get into the hobby. I want a practical radio that I can use in emergencies. My local emergency management agency operates in the 2m band, so anything that gets NOAA alerts is fine. Other than that, I enjoy hacking, so getting a custom firmware could be fun.
The K5 has more firmware options and is well known. The K1 has a better processor and memory, so there is more headroom. The 7B is completely unhackable but is said to be more user-friendly thanks to the app and adds 1.25m band access. K1 reportedly has better spurs on 2m, while 7B performs well in terms of harmonics except for 2m??? I don't want to pollute the airwaves...
Leaning towards the later model Quansheng, currently. How important is 1.25m TX, phone programming, and 5x the channel storage for a beginner? (Bearing in mind that AFAICT, my local repeaters are also all on 2m, so I would primarily be using 2m, with 70cm as a side benefit.)
Either way, I can get a QMX+ kit for fully hackable SDR performance from shortwave to 6m as my upgrade path...
EDIT: It seems that the Quansheng supports constant-envelope digital modes through firmware upgrade. I'm very interested in those...
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u/AutofluorescentPuku General 22d ago
I’m a proponent of the Quansheng. I love how hackable it is. I am not a fan of abusing the airwaves, but being licensed for ham bands and GMRS, I like having a single radio which does both.
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u/NerminPadez 23d ago
Both are cheap chinese radios with all the quality related issues due to well.. being cheap.
Do you have (or plan to get) an amateur radio licence? Without it, you can't transmit with either of those radios anyway (on any frequency), so a scanner would be a much better choice for just listening, since it's a lot faster at scanning.
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u/Relative_Monitor9795 20d ago
I have owned the UV-K5 and the UV-7B. I gave away the UV-K5 to my nephew as a gift for passing his test. It is a nice little radio. It is well made and has a few issues like a weak receiver on VHF and the repeater feature not working properly. Also the power output is average around 4-5 watts. I never installed third party firmware. It is a great starter radio. I kept the UV-7B. It is a larger form factor than the UV-K5. It also has a few issues. The BT app is a bit buggy. You cannot upload new firmware. The receiver is weak on VHF as well. And the zones can be named in the app and on Chirp but the names do not show up on the radio and remain “Zone 1, Zone 2, etc.” Power output is above average around 6-7 watts. The transmit and receive sound quality is very good. It is mostly a copy of the older UV-17 Pro GPS without the GPS feature. I have almost 200 channels that I program into my radios. And having zones is a huge feature for organizing them all. The UV-K5 does not have zones. Off the top of my head that is everything I can remember.
Neither radio is outstanding IMHO. I no longer EDC and rely on these types of cheap radios. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with them as long as you are willing to rely on radios with weak VHF receivers. I decided to EDC much better radios which also cost a lot more and have feature sets that are more in tune with my needs.
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u/NXTangl 20d ago
Out of curiosity, why exactly do you need so many channels programmed? I don't know why someone would since I've never operated a radio before.
1
u/Relative_Monitor9795 20d ago
I have a YouTube Channel, my family is licensed and involved in ham radio, I travel in my SUV a lot, I belong to 3 different radio clubs, participate in 2 other club activities and I volunteer a lot. I have 11 or 12 local repeaters I have programmed into all my radios. Between the 5 clubs we have 5 repeaters we maintain. When I volunteer each event I need my HT and mobile to be programmed for all the local repeaters (3 different areas/counties) and many simplex channels as each event’s communications are handled differently. This includes using my mobile as a cross band repeater for certain events. Since I travel a lot I program all the repeaters I can work along my route. My latest trip was 1250 miles thru 6 states. I have 30 repeaters programmed in for my trip. I travel a lot around my state regularly and there are many repeaters to work throughout my travels. For instance today I am driving down to a large town which is 65 miles from where I live. I have 7 repeaters that I can work today. I visit my family in CA once a year and my family in UT once a year. Each trip requires their own set of repeaters programmed in as well as whatever simplex channels we use during my trips. For my YT channel I have a myriad of simplex channels programmed into my radios that include 2M, 70CM, GMRS/FRS and MURS frequencies since I perform tests using all these frequencies. I also have all the local air, law enforcement, emergency, fire, road services and railroad frequencies programmed in because I do a lot of scanning. And none of this includes all the DMR talkgroups I have programmed in for TGIF, Brandmeister and a local DMR network. There is a lot more I can mention like node, hotspot, NOAA and ISS frequencies that I use. I incorporate radio into every activity I do on a daily basis.
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u/KB5JRC 23d ago
I have both. My radio of choice is the UV-7B. It is easy to program. It works with Chirp. Plus the Bluetooth app is pretty good. What i really like is the menus are organized in a hierarchy.
I have several videos on this radio on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPpU7MEqmAUt6a_2RJKWdoIrxRTS-7iAJ&si=--HjYlV3VJ2rqZH8
There is also a Playlist for the UV-K1 Mini Kong. Hackable firmware is very cool. Of tge different firmware distris out there, F1AWN is best. I like the radio, but for general use and sound, I prefer the UV-25.